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Beyond the Ecofact: Toward a Social Paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica

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Beyond the Ecofact: Toward a Social Paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica J Archaeol Method Theory DOI 10.1007/s10816-013-9183-6 Beyond the Ecofact: Toward a Social Paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica Christopher T. Morehart & Shanti Morell-Hart # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Abstract This essay examines the relationship between social archaeology and paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica, a region where paleoethnobotanical research has been growing rapidly. We synthesize Mesoamerican paleoethnobotanical studies that have gone beyond descriptions of subsistence economies, reconstructions of ecolog- ical systems, or static lists of identified plant remains. These paleoethnobotanical investigations, we argue, transcend the ecofact to shed light on how human–plant interaction was connected to power, agency, societal structures, and normative constraints—fundamental foci of research in social archaeology. Pulling on current trends in Mesoamerican paleoethnobotany, we show how these social archaeological topics have been addressed via studies of political ecology and ritual. Future advances in social paleoethnobotany are contingent upon methodological innovations in data sampling, quantification, analysis, and integration. We end with a consideration of additional pathways toward a social paleoethnobotany, which includes contributions to understanding materiality, past gender relations, environmental knowledge, and the effect of scale on analysis and interpretations. Keywords Social archaeology . Mesoamerica . Paleoethnobotany. Ethnobotany Introduction This article situates paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica within the perspective of a social archaeology. Within recent decades, paleoethnobotany, the study of human–plant interac- tions in the past (Hastorf and Popper 1988; Pearsall 2000), has significantly increased in presence in archaeology. More paleoethnobotanical studies are being published and more students are being trained in paleoethnobotany than ever before. In an archaeological world C. T. Morehart (*) School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Morell-Hart Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Building 50, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-2034, USA Morehart and Morell-Hart dominated by ceramicists, lithicists, osteologists, surveyors, etc., archaeobotanical data long remained largely underutilized. Historically, unless funds existed to hire a consultant or a project member was willing to take on the relatively unromantic and tedious tasks of learning about plant biology and sorting through thousands of tiny seeds, bits of charcoal, pollen grains, etc., the dynamics of past human–plant worlds remained unexamined or were inferred from ethnographic work or ethnohistoric documents. This situation is changing. Beginning in the 1980s, a core group of paleoethnobotanists, some relatively self-trained, have produced a generation or two of students focused on untangling how people in the past used plants to negotiate their social, political, and economic relationships. This process is not just the natural unfolding of archaeological knowledge. Although methodological advancements, emerging theoretical trends, and a new range of questions have created more opportu- nities for paleoethnobotany than previously, this expansion is also shaped by the historical political economy of academia (see Patterson 1999). More graduate students, but fewer standard research opportunities, and more PhDs, but fewer professional positions, cause students to look for new areas and untapped repositories of data to make their professional identities stand out amidst schools of qualified applicants. Moreover, the number of publication outlets has exploded, offering increased opportu- nity to rapidly publish work from new perspectives in a growing (and progressively commercial) publication environment in both online and print formats. As a result of these academic, economic, and sociopolitical processes, paleoethnobotany is transforming. Paleoethnobotanists seek to go beyond basic questions of subsistence and environmental adaptation and employ archaeobotanical data to elucidate as many aspects of past social life as any other form of archaeological data (Pearsall 2000). The purpose of this article is to synthesize this growing body of studies that consider plant remains in light of key areas of social archaeology. We center our article in Mesoamerica, a somewhat arbitrarily defined “culture area” that includes most of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (Kirchoff 1943;cf.Hamann2002; Demarest 2002;Nalda1990;Fig.1). Meso- america is currently witnessing growth in the number of practicing paleoethnobotanists, well exemplifying the process of change discussed above. However, in a region where academic and popular imaginations have been historically focused on large cities, monumental architecture, and the pomp and circumstance of elite life, paleoethnobotany’s contribution to reconstructing the past is not well known. The very fact that both professional discourse and popular imaginations of ancient Mesoamerica overwhelmingly have centered on the more romantic and macro-scale aspects of past society makes this synthetic review of more micro-scale research all the more significant. Although a focus on Mesoamerica will not be as broad as other overviews of the field (e.g.,Hastorf1999;Pearsall2000), it will gain in depth what it lacks in geographical and temporal breadth. Examining Mesoamerica also will allow us to consider areas and theoretical topics not considered in more localized and descriptive overviews, such as Turner and Miksicek’s(1984) and Lentz’s(1999)essayson archaeobotanical evidence of agriculture and arboriculture among the Maya. Below, we first offer a discussion of social archaeology’s aims in relation to paleoethnobotanical efforts to move beyond the ecofact. We then present examples of research conducted by paleoethnobotanists that have dealt with issues of political ecology and ritual—theoretical areas where paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica has most meshed with social archaeology. Next, we stress how social paleoethnobotany depends on method- ological rigor regarding sampling, taphonomy, and data analysis and integration to realize its Beyond the Ecofact: Toward a Social Paleoethnobotany in Mesoamerica Fig. 1 Map of Mesoamerica showing key sites discussed in text with accompanying research reference. 1 Teotihuacan (McClung de Tapia 1977, 1980, 1985;MontúfarLópez1996, 1999); 2 Tenochtitlan (Barrera Rivera et al. 2001; Lopez Lujan et al. 2003; Montúfar López 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009a); 3 Xaltocan (McClung de Tapia and Martínez Yrizar 2005; Morehart 2010; Morehart et al. 2012); 4 San Lorenzo (Lentz et al. 2005); 5 Chan Noohol (Lentz et al. 2005;MorehartandHelmke2008); 6 Actun Chapat, 7 Actun Halal, 8 Actun Chechem Ha, 9 Barton Creek Cave, 10 Twin Caves, 11 Tarantula Cave, 12 Actun Nak Beh (Morehart 2005,2001;Morehartet al. 2004; Morehart and Butler 2010;Morehartet al. 2005); 13 Pooks Hill (Morehart and Helmke 2008); 14 Guijarral and Chispas (Goldstein and Hageman 2009; Hageman and Goldstein 2009); 15 Copan (Lentz 1990, 1991; McNeil 2006a, 2006b, 2009; McNeil et al. 2006); 16 Currusté, 17 Puerto Escondido, 18 Cerro Palenque, 19 Los Naranjos (Morell-Hart 2011, 2014); 20 La Joya, 21 Bezuapan (VanDerwarker 2006, 2010); 22 Huitzilapa (Benz et al. 2006); 23 La Quemada and associated sites (Turkon 2004, 2006); 24 Blue Creek (Bozarth and Guderjan 2004); 25 Río Viejo (King 2003) full potential. We end our discussion by suggesting future trends in social paleoethnobotany. Overall, this article is a review of published works that systematically address social processes via paleoethnobotany. We specifically target publications and projects undertaken by paleoethnobotanists. The paper largely omits studies that are more paleoecological in nature and those that are primarily descriptive taxa lists or short sections in larger site reports, even though one may argue that such “laundry list” (Pearsall 2000) reports are foundational to more socially oriented paleoethnobotanical research. This study also omits an in-depth treatment of reports and articles focused exclusively on documenting the origins of particular taxa, the domestication of crops, and the introduction of agriculture. Paleoethnobotanists are pragmatic; our work shifts in focus and depth in response to immediate project needs and broader field interests. Authors of highly descriptive studies have also produced theoretically rich and profound works. Despite their significance, however, more descriptive studies are generally not included in this article. Paleoethnobotany, Social Archaeology, and the Tyranny of the Ecofact In an intellectual climate where such terms as “processualism” and “post-processualism” are simultaneously meaningless and rich with signification (e.g.,Johnson2010;Morell- Morehart and Morell-Hart Hart 2013), the term "social archaeology" may seem to muddy the theoretical waters. This observation is especially relevant with a field that has historically focused on the most basic and material aspects of life: paleoethnobotany. At its most superficial level, social archaeology involves the application of ideas and concepts from social theory to archaeology (e.g.,Hodder2007; Hodder and Hutson 2003; Meskell and Preucel 2007; Shanks and Tilley 1987). Conceptually, social archaeology denotes a particular set of perspectives, diverse in content yet sharing the outlines of a similarly oriented frame- work. In a recently edited
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